August 31, 2010

"... even the one introduced to American audiences in the persons of Bette Davis, Irene Dunne, Margaret Sullavan, the other Hepburn (though she could talk herself into a self-centered corner, too), Carole Lombard, Rosalind Russell, Jean Arthur, as well as Barbara Stanwyck. Instead Audrey rather resembles her physical antithesis Marilyn Monroe (who wanted to play Holly) in that they have very distinctive voices, but not voices that are good for talking to people."

30 comments:

It's entertainment. I liked Audrey's Holly character. Now I am so ashamed of myself. Women can play roles if they chose to...that doesn't mean they are any less intelligent. As they say, it takes more acting skill to play the clown role than to play the "normal man" role. I remember Forrest Gump with great appreciation for the role Tom Hanks played of a good hearted idiot. Oops, confession may be good for the soul but not for the reputation.

Grace Kelly in her Hitchcock films—Rear Window, To Catch a Thief—is plainly packing sex in her overnight bag. And talking, too—please remember that, because one of the glories of the American talking picture is dialogue as sexual play.

Grace Kelly was sexy. In everyway.

And I agree about Mickey Rooney. It is painful to watch him in that movie.

The review was somewhat painful to read, but I think the author makes a lot of sense that Hepburn, as a model for the "modern woman," pales by comparison to Hepburn's predecessors and contemporaries. (How he could leave out Myrna Loy in the discussion about nice woman in Hollywood who clearly had sex is beyond me.)

But I do see a lot of Hepburn in the modern girl/woman Paris Hilton.

One great snippet from the review:what a lewd, permissive dildo censorship could be.

Among the Manhattan literati of the 1940s and 1950 there was a great era of story telling, such as Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal and Truman Capote. But they were only stories and therefore not as interesting real life events except when based partly upon real people's lives.

Never seen the movie, never wanted to, and every time I hear yet another dewy young person praise it for how speshul it is to their hearts (culminating in that annoying pop hit "Breakfast At Tiffany's" by some dull MTV clone band whose name I hat to look up -- Deep Blue Something, yes that's their real name, and appropriately they never had another hit) I feel even less like ever watching it. I read up the plot and I was like "gigolo? cute chicky who's obviously a hooker? no thanks."

Stars do not offer a destination, but a direction. Audrey existed beyond the furthest bend of Moon River. Maybe this level of perfection can be reached only with proper lighting, a skilled hairstylist, and great natural beauty; but, for all that, for a few hours in a few movies, Audrey achieved perfection. Look at the fleeting, tentative smile she flashes at George Peppard after finishing the Moon River song. (It's on You Tube.) Who wouldn't face down dragons in order to receive the boon contained in the grace of that smile.